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Life from my point of view

A Distorted View

Recent few months have seen social unrest such as extremist invasion, kidnaps, and fighting among various groups, all in the perceived name of religion. But is religion really the root cause for such social unrest/violence to happen? It seems to be obvious for now, but if one were to “unmask” the truth behind this claim, the actual truth could very well put human nature at tops for the Wall of Shame of all times. For this issue, the author has a distorted view on the perceived intent, and possibly unearth the dark intent of these claims. But before going further, the author would like to remind all readers that this article is solely based on the author’s own judgement, and therefore cannot be substantiated as reference to any academic journals.

Kidnappings/Forced will

As mentioned from the author’s older post (please refer to this link), it was mentioned that the author may not be a believer of any religion, but stands firm in the belief that all major religion in existence are about living a life without guilt, with a good conscience, and be compassionate unto others. The author also firmly believes that no major religion would allow human sacrifices, or acts of war/violence which can result in deaths or heavy casualties, or even doing deeds that go against basic humanity. But one report talks about an extremist group kidnapping young ladies from their school, reportedly forced them to convert to the extremist’s faith and marry them off to members of the group. It is also reported that the leader of that group apparently was boasting about his achievements on social media. If the reports are as accurate as it is printed, the author hardly thinks that this is an act according to the group’s proclaimed religion. From what has been researched about this religion, gender rights are practiced equally, and each gender have their own rights to accept or reject, and forcing an individual goes against its teachings. Therefore, the author feels that this particular group of people are simply acting on their own perverse will to attain their selfish goals of inciting fear to others so that they may rule their sector in their own perverse way. In order not lead outsiders to think negatively about their actual intent, they casually put their religion to act as a scapegoat for their otherwise pervasive ideology, so that they may do what they like, and let others perceive to generalize said religion in a negative way. In the author’s opinion, such group are actually opposing their religion, or was never faithful in their religion at all. Misinterpretation of their religion is just plain excuse, and thus this author sees no wrong in interpreting this group’s intention, as opposed to what has been reported and printed.

Violence

To the best of the author’s knowledge, no major religion has ever been supportive of violence, ever. But conveniently, it is the mind of people, clouded by their perceived love for their religion, unable to suppress their deepest passion to “share” their religion, that caused the passion to turn a darker shade, and it became a violent passion to preach or spread their religion, whichever way you see it. At one point, the author feels that this passion has been driven to become an obsession, with an iron-fist on their ideology that it becomes “my way or the highway”. Therefore, these disillusioned believers strongly feels that if you don’t yield to their faith, you are deemed as an anti-believer, or what the author sees it as “Satan’s followers” to them, and it will be honorable to resort to violence to so-called “cleanse” the place to “purify” it. But there are some who are confused between believing their preacher leader and basic humanity, and are conscious about leaking their identity out to the rest of society for fear they would not be accepted back to society, these are merely cowards in the author’s opinion. If you want to do a deed that you strongly (and blindly) believe is going to do justice to your faith, you do not need to cover your face because you should be feeling proud and honored to do your faith “justice”, right? Unless you are uncertain, unsure, or feeling a nagging sense of guilt. Do I hear your heart thump; a loud thud against your chest just now?

In any case, what the author is trying to get across is that no faith, no religion is to be blamed for any of these acts done in the first place. Religion is something that is created by humans, for humans, to supposedly open up a window in every individual, to give humans something to believe in, to hope. These acts of violence and insubordination are born from anger, possibly from one individual, who may be exceptionally vocal about their thoughts; and coupled with that individual’s ability to influence, created the destabilizing agent which result in a catastrophic present as everyone else feels now. To end, the author would like to quote some very meaningful quotes that can be applied to this article’s topic:

on Religion:

“A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack.” – Yoda (The Empire Strikes Back)

on violence:

“Fear is the path to the dark side…fear leads to anger…anger leads to hate…hate leads to suffering.” – Yoda (The Phantom Menace)

also on violence:

“Wars not make one great.” – Yoda (The Empire Strikes Back)

And just when you think sci-fi movies such as Star Wars is nothing more than good-looking actors and actress with loads of CG, think again. The subtle messages that some movies echoes might one day save the world.